✊ The missing ingredient that hobbles promising shows

418 WORDS | READ TIME: 1.6 MIN

Happy Friday friends,

There’s no denying that nostalgia is one of the biggest trends in media right now.

From movies to TV to books to podcasting, we’re awash in content that revisits, re-examines… and often simply revels in the (typically recent) past.

In podcasting, this trend is most prevalent in the TV & Film genre.

Shows like The Rewatchables, The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks, How Did This Get Made, Office Ladies, and many more have proven that revisiting the media of days gone by can attract big audiences.

It’s no surprise then, that the genre has been flooded with shows trying to emulate that success and build massive audiences of their own.

In many ways, the TV/Movie genre is an aspiring creator’s dream.

It feels fun!
It feels easy!
Everyone loves movies and TV, so there’s a guaranteed audience!
You can piggyback on the name recognition and interest in the TV and movies you cover!

And yet, despite the massive success of a small handful of shows in the niche, most will never reach even a modest audience of a few thousand listeners.

Why is that?

Of course, there are all the usual reasons—inadequate production quality, lack of original insight, lack of compelling show packaging, lack of compelling show concept…

But more than any other genre, shows in the TV & Movie genre hinge on one specific conceptual ingredient in order to break through and build an audience.

In this week’s podcast roast of 80s TV Ladies, Justin and I are breaking down what that ingredient is and how shows in any genre can weave it into their shows to provide depth, resonance, and a clear and obvious hook to attract new listeners.

Check out the roast on YouTube here.

In this roast, we discuss:

One of the biggest listener-repelling red flags we commonly see in podcasts
The importance of identifying the deeper underlying theme of your show
Why programmatic ads are probably costing you listeners
How to think about cover art
Why creating a show "about" something almost certainly dooms it to failure and what to do instead
And more

If you're feeling brave enough to submit your own show for a roast, here's how to do it:

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Have a great weekend. Shaping up to be hot and as always...

Stay Scrappy,

If you’re looking for an honest, no-punches-pulled assessment of why your show isn’t growing and/or converting clients & customers, followed by a personalized step-by-step gameplan for your show, consider signing up for a deep-dive podcast audit from me.

On these audits, I spend 10-15 hours studying every aspect of your show and then put together a 1.5–2-hour video report detailing the precise issues that are stifling your growth… as well as the opportunities hiding in plain sight, waiting for you to take advantage of them.

Following the audit, we’ll meet for 90 min to discuss the findings and next steps, then I build you a hyper-actionable, step-by-step growth plan showing you exactly what to do to get moving in the right direction.

There’s currently a 4-week waitlist to get started, but if you’re interested in getting more info and saving your spot in the queue, reply with the words "Podcast Audit!" and I'll send you all the info.

What happens when a human illustrator attempts to generate AI image prompts?